Are you surprised to learn that Martin Lindstrom, one of Time Magazines “Worlds 100 Most Influential People”, uses an old-fashioned Nokia phone from eBay? You shouldn't be. Martin is a data man – a small data man – he doesn’t obsess over the latest trends. He focuses on how marketers and brands can better serve their customer by anticipating needs using small data. Martin was my latest guest on the What’s Next! podcast
While Martin was explaining behavior, and how people deal with change, he shared a quick story. A few years ago, an experiment was run on chickens trapped in cages. After six months, they were set free. What happened? They jumped back into the cage. Humans behave similarly; we love comfort zones. But when you’re in your metaphorical chicken cage, you only see one view of the world. To be good marketers and brands, we have to jump into another’s chicken cage to see the world from their perspective. Good marketers make the effort to see these different angles and create products and services that meet customers' needs accordingly. He even goes as far to suggest moving into consumer homes, even if it’s only for 1-2 days a year. In the home, you’ll discover the ins-and-outs of an entirely new chicken cage.
That is where Martin knows you will find the small data.
Small data looks at behaviors. If you’re responsible for strategy on the marketing, sales, or customer experience side, look at the data describing the consumer. Once you understand it (and live it!) from the customer's point of view, you can begin to innovate technology and to enhance products. Starting with technology means you’re outside the chicken cage. Get inside. Meet the people that live there and improve their situation.
Start with the data point that we’re rational humans and work out. Tech should not dictate life inside the chicken cage – that’s the human’s job.
I wonder how many old-school Nokia phones are still available on eBay? I wonder if that will help me cut through all the noise and rediscover the small data.
Want to learn more? Have a listen to our conversation and subscribe to the What’s Next! podcast on Apple Podcasts.